


Here Comes the Sun

by AnHeiressofaSOLDIER



Category: Final Fantasy VIII, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Venfuu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 17:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11650890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnHeiressofaSOLDIER/pseuds/AnHeiressofaSOLDIER
Summary: A girl: with the power of storms, who was kept inside most of her life because of it. A boy: who's invisible to all, and as lonely as can be because of it... An unlikely friendship and understanding between two souls, and absolute proof that the night is always darkest before the dawn. AU. Venfuu.





	Here Comes the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Terra and Aqua are completely OOC in this story: Just getting that out of the way now. But they needed to be, in order for it to work.
> 
> Ven also may be a bit: He sort of feels more like Roxas, but that’s because he hasn’t exactly had an easy life here?
> 
> …And possibly Fuu, because she’s definitely My Version of her.
> 
> At the end of the day, I do like this piece a lot (as it’s basically me writing sheer romance for a change—with a ship I’d never thought I would attempt before, but now do like) but I just wish I had had more time to edit it and flesh things out, but oh well.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy:)
> 
> Venfuu for the win!
> 
> And Olette stuff may come up again for a sequel… if I ever write one.

**Fuu’s PoV**

Fuu was very much the quiet type, and it was something that had never really bothered her: She relished in her identity, even.  
  
But sometimes... when she'd peel open her blinds and look out into the sun, she'd wish that she wasn't so silent.  
  
Her hair was a gray color... But Fuu often times wished that it was purple—like she pretended it was—so that she could maybe convince Seifer that she wasn't an albino, and so pale that she'd pretty much bust into flames if she ever went outside… along with all of her other problems, of course.  
  
**Ven’s PoV**  
  
Ventus was jogging outside—after having (somewhat… it was complicated) just played some basketball with his best friends Terra and Aqua—when he noticed a soccer ball go down the gutter he'd just passed.  
  
This was nothing to write home about, Ven knew.

But what really caught his attention was that said sewer he was now near seemed to be dripping wet.  
  
And he thought it was too much of a coincidence not to investigate:  
  
Nothing in this town ever happened to him...

In fact, the entire world seemed to spin as if he didn't exist at all.

And sometimes he really thought he didn't.  
  
So on one of this rarest days of rarest days—where Terra and Aqua had actually asked him to try and hang out with them, and he got to play his favorite sport... Ven thought he had to do _something_.  
  
That first thing with Terra and Aqua would have been enough. But now that that soccer ball had seemed like it had its own personal rain cloud over it. It was too much.  
  
Except, as Ven got closer, it looked as though there was even more to it than that… the water went red.

Ventus went to investigate.  
  
And his first objective was to talk to the brunette girl who seemed to be staring at the same thing that he was, with a sort of owlish look to her eyes.  
  
But his first _action_ was to wedge loose the ball from its prison… he knew that people usually looked right through him, so maybe if he had something like this on hand it would make sure the girl before him saw him?  
  
"Excuse me, Miss," Ven said, his hands folded behind his head. "Ya happen to have any theories ‘bout what's goin’ on with this sewer here?"  
  
The green-eyed lady looked at Ven as if he was an idiot… and sometimes Terra and Aqua even did the same thing, but it still made him feel awful.  
  
"The name's Olette," she said, with a bored enough attitude, before she sobered up and seemed to adopt a serious persona. "And to answer your question, rain appearing in one place _only_ would in and of itself be an anomaly, but the fact that it's a pink-ish red is especially something to take note of. Who knows? Maybe God's just decided this area needs some more rain, and has opted to change His color for it."  
  
Truth be told, Ventus could tell that Olette didn't believe her own words.

But deciding that this conversation was going nowhere quick—and that this was a kind of person Ven especially didn't like (which was weird for him, because usually he was desperate for anyone to love him. But he'd also given up on rationality long ago)—Ven quickly said his adieus to this "Olette" person via bowing.  
  
Then looking up, as a ray of sunlight seemed to fall onto the part of Earth he was standing on and nowhere else, Ventus saw out of the corner of his eye that a girl in a house was looking at all the things he was currently admiring.  
  
He took a step forward, and held a hand out—preparing to try and get her attention—but it was to no avail.  
  
She was gone.  
  
Ven frowned, got on his skateboard and sped away—just as the orange of the sky turned a deep blue.  
  
**Fuu’s PoV**  
  
The truth was that Fujin had the power to change the weather:

This was mostly because she could make different clouds appear anywhere she wanted them to, and then have them work their magic there.  
  
But it still happened even when she wasn't trying it—even when she was inside—but it occurred less so when she was indoors; and it was for that reason that she had listened to Seifer and Rai’s idea to protect her... even though she hated it.  
  
…Fujin wanted to be outside with that blond boy that she seemed to see all the time: There was just so much _life_ to him, and she wanted to experience it herself.

However, it didn’t seem to be in the cards for her.  
  
"Hey, Fuu," Seifer said from behind the dining room table that the albino was at now, with his deep yet surprisingly warm voice. "What are you doin’ just standing’ there? I know you must want to go outside.

“And I can sympathize with you desiring that enough... But ‘chu must know it'll only cause more problems than anything, right?"  
  
Fuu longed to tell Seifer that she'd just meant to look without before the rain started—that she'd heard was coming _naturally_ , via the weather support—to try and get inspiration for her writing that way... (She hadn't meant to accidentally make it begin pouring herself, by thinking of precipitation.)  
  
But instead of acting to defend herself at all, Fuu just spoke a one word "Obviously", and went to fix her puffy sleeves that were falling down off her shoulders.  
  
There.

Now she was the perfect girl that she was always meant to be.  
  
And she left the room without anything else spoken to Seifer.

...  
  
Their dining room _was_ quite stunning, Fuu found herself thinking lately—as she tried to find some positives in her life to daydream about, for she felt sort of bad for snapping at Seifer before and not appreciating his own tough situation at all.  
  
But back to the room: the white, center rug—that rested over some hardwood that poked out beneath it—had an eagle clutching a scroll in its talons knitted there.  
  
There was a crystal chandelier that hung over a cherry wood table, that reminded Fuu of if the sun and the color white had come together to create a dreamcicle—and that was a pleasant thought indeed.  
  
There were rustic curio cabinets all over the square area... but what was most interesting to Fuu, was that she, Seifer, and Rai had an ornate tray of gold plates—nearly as high as the table itself—placed in this location instead of the kitchen.  
  
Fuu smiled, as she pushed her sleeves down her shoulders and thought that maybe she could find a balance here after all.  
  
She needed to discover where Seifer was at... and tell him that even though she felt like a princess trapped in this place (that was why she was always wearing a dress in her fate, after all), he had done a good job of making their home feel less like a tower and more like somewhere where someone housing a cute obsession with eagles might live.  
  
And Fuu was ready to do just that, when the boy she'd been admiring for a good portion of her life appeared before her very eyes.  
  
At first, Fuu thought she was dreaming. And she reached out for him, like she often did in all her dreams...  
  
But then she actually felt a shoulder against her fingertips; and as she accidentally pushed the boy back somewhat, he fell into the end of the chandelier and made its gems shake.  
  
"Ex- explain!" Fuu demanded at once!

Because even though she might have had a slight crush on this guy—and pondered that she might very well understand him, in having watched him for so long—she also wasn't foolish enough to be so trusting.  
  
But the moment the word left her mouth, Fuu could only clamp a hand over it and realize how that had been the wrong one to use.   
  
"Explain" could mean a lot of things, after all, and what if this boy got the wrong idea and didn't tell her just how and why he was here?  
  
Surprisingly, as it turned out, Ventus hasn't broken in like Fuu thought he might have.    
  
He just crossed his arms over his chest and answered, "I told jour keeper I figured out ‘chu caused that rain cloud. And I'd shout out about it to the world, if he didn’ let me meet ya just once. So he did."

Banishing that horrid thought from her mind, Fuu took a few deep breaths and thought of how best to handle the current situation she found herself in.

If this were a novel, the protagonist would probably do something truly foolish that would cause disasters to happen—or more untruths to be unearthed, if that was truly what Ven was giving her now—because of their actions.

So Fuu decided to remain calm, and to just invite Ventus to dinner with Seifer, Raijin, and herself.

This way, if Ventus really was a person of interest, they could keep an eye open for it during supper.

But most of all, now Seifer could confirm or deny Ventus’ words to her right to his face.

Agreeing with much more grace than Fuu would have expected of this man who longed to be loved more than anything else, Ven nodded his head and motioned for her to lead the way.

…

They, surprisingly, didn’t end up in the dining room at first:

A terrible waste Fujin thought, as it was _so_ lovely.

And hadn’t she just been admiring it as the only good thing about her isolated existence?

For whatever the reason, Seifer ended up having a chef come in to cook for them; Fuu could only figure that Seifer didn’t want to take his eyes off of Ven for even one second. And that was why he was having someone else in charge of food for a change.

Seifer didn’t want the professional to see Fuu either, though.

And so that led to the unlikely quartet all crowded around a _vent_ , so they could all secretly watch the cook in work and be able to tell when he was done with it.

There was not much to be said about this place—other than the fact it was beyond awkward—as it was just one closet-sized area that they all sat in, not daring to say a word to let the proverbial other shoe drop, as the guy made his fifteen-minute-meal.

After that, Seifer ran down the stairs to collect it faster than Fuu had _ever_ seen him move before—it would have been impressive, if it wasn’t so embarrassing—and while that happened, Rai showed off his muscles to Ven in a threatening way.

Despite herself, Fuu did laugh at this… even if she did feel bad for Ventus.

Maybe.

She was still unsure of him, now that he was a reality in her life.

But it was after Seifer showed that he should have been on the track team for the Olympics and came back, that the true humiliation settled in:

It came in the form of Seifer deciding to not even go to the dining room to _eat_.

There was literally no reason for this that Fuu could figure out, other than that Seifer just wanted to intimidate Ventus.

But as much as she protested, no one ended up listening to her: So they went to _another_ room upstairs—the attic, to be exact—and ate in that musty space.

Cobwebs were all around, over board games more than anything else, and finally the discussion started:

“Ven,” Fuu said, deciding to take a risk by speaking more than she ever had before. She thought it was warranted in this situation. “I’m- I’m sorry. I didn’t plan _this_. I wanted to test the validity of what you said, yes… and to maybe threaten you some. But not _this_ badly.”

At that, Seifer began choking on the ramen he’d been eating.

Rai, of course, let out one of his “you know” lines. And Fuu rolled her eyes for it: “Seifer! You alright, y’know?”

But even the albino had to admit that she was worried for her friend.

…Or perhaps it was Ventus she should have been concerned for. Because he seemed so highly amused at Seifer’s expense now, Fuu didn’t think that Rai’d ever let him live for it.

“Wait… Fuu. You’re saying this loser _didn’t_ do something to offend ju, _after_ I let him in, and you’re just upset I let him in at all?”

Fuu clenched her hands into fists. And she thought that in another life, she probably would have been a weapon wielder—who would have bore her weapon in apprehension at this new line of questioning.

She swallowed the last bit of fettuccine alfredo she had left, and looked at everyone around her with a pensive expression on her face.

“You _did_ let him in, then,” Fuu stated, not asked.

Rai scratched his head at this. But since he didn’t seem _too_ antagonistic with Ven, Fuu got the impression that he must have known more than he was letting on…

Or that he _consciously_ remembered knowing something, at least—even if he wasn’t sure just what it was he was _supposed_ to know— Rai _was_ a bit of an idiot.

“You doubted that, Fuu?” Ventus asked her. And there was so much hurt in his blue eyes, as he looked in her general direction, that she instantly felt bad for him.

Fuu averted her eyes from his gaze.

But there was something about the way he’d looked at her… It was as if there was some sort of familiarity between them, even though it wouldn’t have made sense on his side at all.

…And yet it was still somehow there. Fuu’d read enough books depicting the subject to be sure of it.

“Yeah… I saw that the storm was comin’ from where you were at, and _just_ where. After that, it wasn’t too hard to guess what was happenin’.

“And I… I let my curiosity get the better of me. That’s why I came here… demanding things. I always thought I was cursed, ta be the way I am… And when I saw that rain cloud over me, I thought maybe it was _you_ who was doin’ the cursin’…

“But then things started coming togethe’ bette’ when I saw your demeanor.”

It was a beautiful speech: the kind of thing that Fuu could only ever fantasize of doing herself, as she wasn’t one with words.

And as Rai began laughing uproariously, and Seifer began choking on some gumballs this time, Fuu wondered how Ven’d said all of that with a straight face… not seeming to think that he’d be judged for it.

It was then that the girl noticed the green star trinket in Ven’s hand that he was _fiddling_ with.

…Yeah. It must have been easy to talk of matters of the heart when you weren’t even really paying attention while doing so:  
  
Another thing Fuu could only dream of accomplishing. Because she’d never truly be around people, would she? And so she couldn’t even really hope for feeling _anxious_ , of all things!

But biting down these negative emotions, Fuu indicated with her hand that Seifer should talk next… It seemed like he wanted to.

And he, like her, didn’t waste words, really. So what he was getting at now _had_ to be important, didn’t it?

“Fuu, just know that I _never_ would’ve let him come if he’d sounded accusatory about you to me…

“It was when he began speaking as if you were some beautiful, tragic soul that I decided to give him a chance. I think you could use a friend, Fuu. I think you could use a _real_ friend.”

Rai seconded this by grabbing a dusty bin beside him, and pulling a party hat out of it.

He then went as far as to put it atop Ventus’ head.

And though it was really a beautiful gesture, what they were doing for her, Fuu couldn’t help being reminded of the crown of thorns that had been atop Jesus’ forehead.

Would Ven start bleeding now, too?

Whatever the reason… Fuu didn’t think that anything between her and Ventus could end well. At all.

And perhaps in another life, it already hadn’t. And _that_ was why she felt this way.

And yet… yet Fuu had loved Ventus too much from afar to say no to this. Even if she thought that he was latching onto her, because the anomaly that he was thought he could finally have some companionship with this anomaly _here_.

Things seemed to slow down for Fuu.

Seifer was looking at her expectantly, as if saying: “This is what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? So why are you hesitating?”

Rai himself looked like he was joyous at the thought of having a new companion in their fold…

…Ventus looked like he was trying to figure _her_ out, which led to Fuu wanting to do the same thing with him.

And Fuu, not being able to take much more, took some nicotine gum out of her pocket… And she enjoyed how, for her, it seemed to make her too strong senses go numb.

And all she could feel about her now was the taste of mint-y, cold forest.

And thankfully, it was under-whelming. Not overwhelming like her current situation at all: certainly not that.

**Ven’s PoV**

Unable to help himself, Ven asked: “Ya do drugs, huh? Or somewhat, at least, as I really dunno if nicotine gum can be qualified as that…”, as he tried to give this befriending Fuu thing a go.

He was no psychic… And he really didn’t think he could read things or people too well at all.

But he somehow got the sense that she thought he just wanted her because he couldn’t really have Terra and Aqua.

But Fujin was at a loss to see just how much she really meant to Ventus. And that already to him, they had a connection he couldn’t put into words—and that was better than anything he ever could’ve asked for—but he’d be lying if he said he at least _somewhat_ wasn’t disappointed by her behavior.

And Fuu just looked at Ven as if he was something ugly she’d found crawling on her shoe.

Currently, the two of them were sitting in the movie theater that the Almsays had.

And Fuu was being every bit the rebel, Ven saw: She had the seat completely folded up against its back, and was just sitting atop the cushion and her feet digging into it.

She actually reminded Ven right now, of a girl he’d had a crush on when he was younger—who’d done something similar at one of their school concerts and had gotten yelled at for it.

…Not that she had ever known _him_ , of course: Ven had been invisible in that institution, and to everyone around him, as he was to most people in the world.

He’d, however, loved this girl from afar. And so there was a part of the blond that had to wonder if that was the particular emotion he was beginning to feel about Fuu… But he somehow doubted it. It didn’t feel _quite_ right.

But all of this was inside Ven’s head.

Outwardly, he just beamed at Fuu like nothing on the planet was wrong…

It was usually how he got by.

“Don’ look a’ me like I’m judging you, Fuu,” Ven protested; his hand may have even gone to scratch the back of his head in a gesture that he hated here, but pretended that he adored.

He smiled the way someone might be forced to be, if nails were being dug into their lips in order to make them have that particular look.

Meanwhile, a film starring a tire came to a close just before the duo...

“Do I really look like someone who’d hate a druggy? I mean… If nothing else, it might make me think you’re like that Kayleigh in ‘The Butterfly Effect’. And so that we might end up getting an epic love story like them, too, then.”

Fuu looked up from where she’d been gazing downward at her lap. And there was a certain hopefulness there that Ventus couldn’t completely understand.

And despite what he’d just said, Ven found himself feeling indignant:

He began fidgeting with his checkered bracelet. And he wanted to scrub off the black parts of it; he didn’t want grays in his life—what his piece of jewelry really was, wasn’t it?—he wanted light.

He certainly didn’t want Fuu’s confusing demeanor, as she hesitantly reached out to him while the VHS before him led to the screen going a deadly blue.

Don’t act like yer dreaming of my love, or somethin’—and that it’s just a dream—when you started popping pills when I acted to make that happen.

“Typical. Using movies to pretend you know something.”

 _When you clearly don’t_ , was clearly where Fuu’s thought processes would have led her to finish that sentence, if she hadn’t at least had _some_ etiquette.

And so Ven began wondering what he was doing here—and why he was trying this at all—but the image of a giant, green rubber ball flashed in Ven’s mind’s eye, and he found that he now felt a _bit_ better about being something that Fuu used to shove her clever answers onto.

And smiled.

Fuu’s hand shot forward and landed on his own—and he wondered about it for a minute, before unintentionally brushing the thought off—and he ended up thinking about Terra and Aqua…

Apparently to them, they saw him as droplets of the rain in the sun that they could only _sometimes_ make out the shape of.

And according to them, the only way they’d ever even been able to see him was in embracing a concept from the “Recess” TV show that they had loved as children.

There had been an episode where the kids had been tirelessly venturing across the blacktop in the hot hot heat to get to a legendary water fountain on the other side of it—as the one nearest them wasn’t working—but they’d begun to see mirages… and to think that what they were going for didn’t even exist because of that red herring.

…But it had: It had been a sprinkler, of all things. And so reaching it had led the youngins to the best fantasy they ever could have had at the time.

So in a sense, even the mirages—though, in some ways, false—had led them to this most perfect of realities.

A similar thought had led to Terra and Aqua seeing Ven for the first time. Or so they had said.

So it was only natural, then, that Ven answered back now: “Films have us make sense of the world we live in. Right?”

Fuu laughed again, and Ven was instantly taken aback by it: This was the second time she’d giggled around him recently, and Ventus was somewhat proud of himself for it.

It was a sweet sound coming from her.

But she seemed playfully ashamed of herself for having don that, because she quickly sobered up, glared at her companion, and used the remote on the armrest beside her to get “Big Hero 6” playing for them.

…

Ven ended up going to his house after his, shockingly, fun movie night with Fuu.

And the simple, two-room-bedroom home had more cobwebs on it than even Fuu’s attic did.

…And there was a part of Ven that wanted to be proud for it—as he and Fuu seemed to have the sort of relationship where they’d want to be creepier than the other—but he felt himself being a lot more serious here.

Somehow, it had completely slipped Ven’s mind that he should have had a family—he _had_ been born, right?—so why was it that there seemed to be holes in his memories about those people?

…Or holes in his memories in _general_?

Why couldn’t Ventus remember his parents at all? Or if they’d ever been able to see him? They must have been… right?

And yet he didn’t recall anything about them at all.

Instead, being around Fuu and her family had _just_ made it click in Ven’s mind that he passed by the place he’d used to live everyday.

And now he was going through his former and humble abode with a broken heart.

Coincidentally, Ventus found himself in the attic there, too. But unlike Fujin’s, Ventus’ was more rounded and red in color instead of black.

It was also pretty well taken care of.

Going through some pictures in boxes, Ven saw himself at school…

Or he saw _himself_ , anyway. But he wondered if anyone else would have been able to make him out in these photos:

Ven couldn’t tell for sure—because it had been _so_ long since he’d been in kindergarten, and you only _just_ started having memory at that time, anyway—but he thought this was a grade he’d been in where he’d had his strange ability first manifest.

…So that probably meant that no one had ever once seen him in kindergarten, then. Or now: in pictures of him during it.

He _was_ still an anomaly. So if no one had seen him in person during that time, what were the chances that anyone would pick up the photo now and see a troubled soul?

Unless they were, perhaps, Terra and Aqua. And Fuu and her family somehow…

“Yeah, thinking about it, there’s no way I was known in year zero… I wanted to help Kairi—when she fell on her eye, and had to go to the nurse ‘cause of it—but everyone had acted like I was invisible, so I’d been unable to ask about eyes for her.”

It was then that Ven found a letter that his mother, presumably, had written to a friend of hers:

…It was a suicide note.

_After Ventus vanished, when being transferred to another daycare, I just couldn’t live with myself anymore. I mean, how could I? What sort of mother could ever fail like that and forgive herself for it? And that’s why I have to go, Katie._

_Please don’t think any less of me, my best friend._

_-Sam_

Being nothing but numb now, Ven ended up leaving his parents’ house—wondering what had happened to him when he was such a young age to make him like he was now, and dreading it.

…

**Fuu’s PoV**

They ended up meeting at Fuu’s again.

And of course they would, Fuu berated herself. She still wasn’t supposed to go outside.

Though Seifer may have lightened up when it came to a lot of things, that was one condition he hadn’t changed.

And as much as Fuu hated it and was starting to resent it, she also couldn’t blame him for it.

…Fuu’d caused another storm recently. And this time it had been far, far away from her.

Fujin had begun thinking about how she might have been in love with Ventus—or heading that way, anyway—and her mind had wandered to the thought of making love to him in Hawaii… as she also playfully chewed on nicotine to spite him, as she _was_ still very much herself.

But she’d absentmindedly turned on the news then—as she’d begun to think she _had_ felt a shift in her powers—and had seen the amount of wreckage that had hit her dream location.

Fuu’d known then that the fault had been hers and hers alone…

So if punishing herself was the way to make sure that would never happen again, Fuu was completely onboard with it now.

Her acquaintance seemed to be having similar sobering thoughts about something, because Ven arrived in a kind of mood Fuu’d never seen from him before.

Fuu met Ventus in a particularly neat hallway of her family’s—with stone columns that dissected the large window behind it, so that Fuu could _almost_ believe she was really out there.

The hostage was even wearing a cheesy dress, now that she easily could have imagined Greek goddesses wearing:

It was monochrome like her hair—but a prettier shade than what she had, Fuu thought—with tank top-like sleeves, and a waistline that flared out to her ankles.

There were wrinkles on the whole thing, too, which reminded Fuu very much of a pumpkin.

But most of all, she was wearing a pearl necklace—because recently watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movies had informed Fuu of what kind of girl she now wanted to be.

“Ven,” Fuu said, curtsying to the boy as soon as she saw him, and hoping that he’d continue with the pleasantries.

She was just done playing aloof, and like she didn’t care about Ventus when she clearly did.

Ventus didn’t seem to notice a difference in her at all, however.

And instead, he acted like the sun was burning and blinding him, as he held up a hand to his face and brushed past the very pretty girl.

“What’s wrong?” were the first words to leave Fuu’s mouth; and she regretted them, for she’d longed to get over her aversion to long sentences and to start off the day by having a real conversation with him.

But that was ruined now, wasn’t it?

Ven acted like he hadn’t heard Fuu at all: He stopped at the mini-fridge and microwave, that was in this section of the mansion (…for whatever reason; Fuu could never understand why they were here) and grabbed a microwave burrito and heated it up.

And after he’d sat down upon taking a bite of it, Fuu joined him.

“Have you ever just thought you should do more with your life?” Ven questioned.

It wasn’t the sort of thing Fuu had been expecting from him.

In such a sour mood, she’d thought he’d be mopey. But now he just sounded dreamy, as he gazed at something in the distance that she couldn’t see.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Fuu retorted with a raised eyebrow, before she face-palmed for his stupidity, and leaned her head against his shoulder.

The blond’s face lit up at that.

But there still seemed to be phantom pains in him that Fuu couldn’t see or make sense of, as he once again turned away from the sun. And it hurt Fuu to see him like this.

She should have been happier for it… Because in such a metaphor, wouldn’t that mean that he was getting closer to her: the queen of clouds and rain?

But Fuu couldn’t make herself celebrate something that brought Ventus down at all, so here she was.

“It’s just,” Ven began, taking Fuu’s hand in his own. It didn’t escape her notice that he’d cupped their hands together, too, and not laced their fingers:

It was something that thrilled Fuu, because it was a sign of friendship. And that… That she was ready for with him. Anything beyond that? Not so much… Despite what her fevered imagination might sometimes think.

She thought in horror again about what had happened in Hawaii, and pondered if she really even deserved this or not… Or if she really should have had _anything_.

“I’m going to tell you a secret, okay?” Ventus spoke, just as a maid passed by them and gave the pair a concerned look.

Oh… She must have been more of the hired help that Seifer was getting lately. It was still weird that he was suddenly doing that…

Ventus had an index finger pressed to his lips now, to hint that Fuu need to stay quiet about it. And he was really just pretending at being serious; the look suited him, but then she was biased because she liked dark things.

“I- I found my old house. I broke in—a real class act, I know—but I have no memories of the place, Fuu! It’s bizarre! So I had to investigate. In the attic—… I must have something about those lately, huh?—I found a letter my mom wrote to someone…

“There’s a bit more to it than that, but I really don’ wanna get into it right now… But I found out people once could see me, like anyone else can be seen… Then somethin’ happened to change all that—though I don’t know what it coulda been—and I somehow ended up like this… That’s _really_ out there, huh?”

Fuu wanted to make a joke again, that it was _her_ he was speaking with.

And that her life was more peculiar, because she’d always been like this—or so she thought… That was the impression Seifer gave her, anyway. And he wouldn’t lie to her—but then she saw how upset Ventus was. And she thought she saw a dead look in his eyes.

So instead, she uttered this—while a fan came on and stirred her hair like wind, to make her once more believe the illusion that had been told about her.

“I thought I’d always _been_ me. Seifer wouldn’t lie. …But what if I _haven’t_ been here forever? No one remembers things before five… so maybe I just don’t know it?”

Ventus seemed deep in thought again… And she wondered if he was thinking of his precious Terra and Aqua again, and how they had reacted to him…

And if working his way back from that, was trying to figure out if something could have ever been true for her, too. …

If she ever could have been normal.

“In your earliest memories—though they won’t tell you everything, ‘cause maybe stuff happened for you before five—do you feel like ya ever had an affinity for storms, water, or your power at all?

“As for me, looking back on it… I think I always felt invisible to the people at my daycare, even. At least somewhat—because there were always three highchairs in one table, that they could have put me in one of… but they never did. So I thought they just ignored me. And it was _apparently_ after going to this place that maybe I thought I might as well be ignored, then… I dunno.”

Fuu blinked.

And somewhat squeezed Ven’s fingers in mild agitation.

How _jealous_ she was, of how easily he could string words into long, perfect sentences!

But zoning out herself, Fuu found that his words had triggered something within her.

“Daycare”… what an awful word, some voice in the back of Fujin’s mind said.

Didn’t he know that they should have been called “schools”, even _for_ early ages? And that maybe certain parents referred to them as exactly that?

“People belittled my hair for being a storm?” Fuu tried to guess the reason for her powers… Though she couldn’t really say that she thought something like that had happened… but what if it had?

She probably would have said more on the subject, but just then Rai came running into the room:

He said that it turned out Seifer was bleeding internally, and they needed to rush to the hospital that very moment: everyone, including her.

…

Fuu wished she could have said more about her first experience outside. But there were so many stimuli to her head at the moment, she really couldn’t think about that at all.

But when she entered the hospital, she _did_ find herself thinking they were much different from what she saw on TV and even what she read about them.

…People always complained about the sterile scent and look to hospitals, and how they always felt so cold and creepy.

Fuu could _somewhat_ get the sterile thing—as they _were_ very white—but she thought they were much warmer and cozier than people gave them credit for, as there were many multi-colored areas that sprung up in certain corners for family and the like to sit in. Fujin spotted some stuff for free drinks there, and even a computer in one:

It was clear that the staff here wanted to make some sort of home for their patients, and Fuu gave them credit for that… Even if the forefront of her mind was screaming in worry for Seifer.

Fuu couldn’t do much as they gave him a blood transfusion; and she painstakingly waited outside his room with Rai and Ven, who was being a good anchor for her throughout all of this.

All Fuu knew was that when things looked like they were going sour, she remembered a certain Bible verse she’d read about blood before, found said book on Seifer’s beside table, and read the text over him.

Fuu felt immediately exhausted after it, but she _did_ notice a slight improvement in Seifer then—he would make it—and so she imagined she’d never smiled as widely as she had in that moment.

And she promptly fell asleep for a little bit.

**Ven’s PoV**

The two of them were at a park, after what had happened with Seifer:

  
They were gingerly swinging beside each other, and Ven was trying to decide if he possibly could have fallen in love with Fuu.

He had made friends with Fuu—something he was glad about, as he desperately needed her... and not just because he may or may not have been a slight fanboy for her power—so maybe their bond _was_ that special.

And maybe there were even ways he could make it moreso that.

  
”Do you wanna do that cliché thing couples do, where they get a blanket and camp out beneath the stars?”

He had her hand in his own now, but he was being careful to just run his fingertips over her nails—as Ven noticed that Fuu freaked out sometimes, when he tried to lace their digits.

“I shouldn’t because of my religion…” she answered back now, in a more sheepish way than Ven had ever seen her be before.

And he immediately understood that she’d gotten deep into Christianity—closer to God, that was—after He had saved Seifer for her.

So Ven supposed it made sense that Fuu didn’t want to do something that might look like they were having sex before marriage—not that he even wanted to do the hanky-panky with her yet, when he didn’t know what they were to each other—but it was still a dilemma.

But eventually she just said “yes”.

And when Ven raised an eyebrow at that—his wordless attempt to ask her if she was turning her back on her faith—she elbowed him and gave just two words: Hannah Montana.

…Right. There had been an episode when Miley and Jake had done that.

And as a closet fan of the show, it would make sense that Fuu would want to emulate that… Even with who she was now.

So without a word, Fuu sprang up, grabbed a red and white piece of cloth that had been hanging on a yellow slide for whatever reason, and prepared for their next adventure.

…

**Fuu’s PoV**

“Anything you wanna talk about?” Fuu asked as they lay down on the fabric.

She was trying her best to keep things from being awkward between them, because as great as this idea had sounded on paper she and Ventus didn’t know what to do with each other now.

It was clear neither of them wanted to do anything sexual—or anywhere close to it. Maybe Fuu was even somewhat Fuu’s penance now—but they still wanted to be with each other.

“Why don’t we talk?” Fuu threw out there—her face lighting up like a baby’s might have in tittering for the first time.

She was just so glad to _finally_ be having a conversation with him—which she started with many words, like she had been wanting to—and now it was honestly happening.

“Well… seeing where our conversations usually go… Are we gonna ask if we could somehow make fog together with are magic, or somethin’?”

This time, Fuu did not laugh. But Ventus’ cleverness ensured that when he moved closer to her and put a hand under her head to cradle it, she didn’t pull away.

 _Why are you doing that?_ Fujin wanted to ask. _You’re not hovering over me, as to kiss me,_ _so you’re probably just cradling my heavy head for no reward… But at the same time, I don’t care. I’m not gonna make you move, even if I do think you_ might _be suffering here because of me._

“Fuu… I wan’chu to know I think I have feelings for you. But unlike what media says, it does have conditions. I- I want ‘chu to be healthy, of course. So it makes me exhilarated that you’ve stopped chewing nicotine. But at the same time, I don’ want ya to be anything than what you are. So… so have you found a balance with everything? Or did ja quit cold turkey for me?”

Despite thinking before this that she might have been asexual, Fuu found herself very much wanting to jump Ven’s bones now. And the beautiful starry night background to them would have only added to the scene.

 _I love you so much, Ven,_ Fuu decided now. _That has to be the most beautiful and truest thing I’ve ever heard before. So thank you for it._

Fuu’s lips leaned toward Ven’s, and they were more velvet than she ever would have expected.

And she found that she liked the taste of salt there, somehow, even though she’d only inhaled the corner of his bottom lip for just a second… before they were interrupted.

“Ven, is that you?” came a motherly voice that Fuu had once hated, in hearing it from outside her window… as she had been jealous of it.

Both that voice, and a masculine one, let out a gasp when they came upon them.

Fuu couldn’t really blame them, with what it looked like what she and Ven had been about to do.

But it was really Ven’s reaction that ended up ruining everything. “Terra, Aqua, you can fully see me now- how? Anyway, that doesn’t matter… this- this wasn’t what it looked like!”

Ventus was now brushing Fuu aside like some rubbish, wasn’t he?

And as such, Fuu stood up—feeling heartbroken—and Terra and Aqua became ludicrous.

“Veg- Ven… We were the first people who noticed you? And we could have seen you _completely_ , if you’d given us a chance and not disappeared completely with… her?”

…He had to go through his things with Terra and Aqua, like she had had to go through tragedy with her own family, Fuu thought now.

She wasn’t sure how she knew that, exactly, but she did.

Anger was _starting_ to settle into her being now—and she thought she probably should have been getting jealous, instead of trying to figure out why this needed to happen and to give the benefit of the doubt—but here she was, being reasonable.

Waving the three friends away with her hands, Fuu tried to let them know that they had her permission to leave and to figure out whatever it was they needed to.

And Ven did stand up himself now—and regarded Fuu with a certain look—before he pulled away with Terra and Aqua, who now had their arms wrapped around his neck.

But his countenance… It seemed to say that he wasn’t going to get over this thing with Terra and Aqua, and that Fuu was never going to see him again.

But Fuu let him go, anyway… with Aqua’s nail digging into Ven’s cheek, and all.

…

They didn’t meet again after that…

And while at first Fuu tried to keep herself busy, and to not think too much of it, she did find herself falling into a depression.

She lied in bed in the middle of the day, with her covers between her legs, as she fought the most massive headache in the world.

Had she done the right thing, in reuniting Ven with those he held most dear?

Fuu tried to puzzle out, as tears gathered in her eyes and her hair that she’d let grow out brushed against the cream colored pillow.

She had thought so… Because Ventus had taught her how to truly live, and to not just be someone hateful from behind closed doors.

Yes, he had taken her outside—after she had already done so, because of her need to go be with Seifer in his time of need—and had made her life more colorful in a lot more ways than that… but there was more to it.

He had made her a better person and kinder—more hopeful—even despite her situation, or even outside of it.

So Fujin had thought the natural thing to do after that would be to be just as equally good to him… but what if she had made a mistake?

She began shaking in her tears, feeling as though she was seizing.

So how was it that in doing something right, things had ended up so badly?

…

**Ven’s PoV**

It was something special being held in Terra and Aqua’s arms like this…

The two of them weren’t doing anything noteworthy, other than just embracing, in Aqua’s kitchen.

…Ven had been a little bit like Fuu—though he’d never admit it to anyone—in that he’d stalked Terra and Aqua some in his past: Just like how he’d learned she’d done that with him.

So even though he had never been in this area before (how could he have? When Terra and Aqua couldn’t view him. And as much as they were willing to try with him, they’d never exactly let him in. Probably because they’d somewhat thought themselves insane when it came to him), he’d certainly witnessed it.

It was very old time-y, and reminded Ventus of his grandmother’s home ( _right. I had a grandma, too, before everything went to hell_ ).

There was white wallpaper with miniature cartoon characters on it.

And the coo-coo clock that kept going off to the beat of Ven’s heartbeat also reminded him of a better time, that he didn’t exactly recall completely.

He just knew that it existed—even somewhat outside the time he’d spent with his mom and dad—and was he recreating it here?

“Ven,” Aqua was the first to speak, as she departed from his arms to go make some hot cocoa for all of them… or so Ven was guessing, anyway. “We didn’t- we didn’t mean to pull you away from your friend, if she’s just that to you… But if she’s more- I’ll admit to Terra and I both being jealous of it, as you probably gathered from his outburst… It’s just that- we always had something really special, didn’t we?”

Before Ven could really answer, Terra had snuck up behind him and smacked his back at this news.

But as though he didn’t act to really confirm or deny Aqua’s statement, Ventus assumed the words said about him had to have been true, then.

Ven snorted. But he was taken aback by just how young he sounded… and how it bothered him so much. Wasn’t he finding a paradise here again?

He brushed the negative thought off.

And mayhap putting on some sort of persona, he flicked a piece of white fluff at the end of Aqua’s hat.

“Yeah, I guess we had some good times, huh? Like the time you two thought I scraped my knee…” Ventus continued on, wondering where he was really going with this.

It wasn’t _that_ good of a memory. And it hadn’t that long after they had finally been convinced he existed at all that it had transpired.

At the same playground where the former had happened, Terra and Aqua had come upon Ventus again. And as they’d seemed to see the shape of his knee, the two had debated aloud if Ven had scraped it, and _that_ was how they could see it in the form of red rain now.

And they had seemed really concerned for him?

But how… How was this really a good memory? And why did Ven think he needed it like air to breathe?

It was for that last feeling in his heart, that Ven continued the scene with his two former best friends.

The coffee on his lips wasn’t as horrible as it usually was, either.

…And he didn’t even realize that he’d given up on life and light with this, and was drowning in the emptiness.

**Fuu’s PoV**

Deciding that she wasn’t going to relegate herself to a world of suffering—or, at the very least, moping—Fuu finally ended up leaving her bed, and found Seifer and Rai waiting for her in the very hall she’d been in Ven with, before she’d heard the news about Seifer.

“What’s up?” Fuu queried at once, with a hand on her hip.

She may have been upset about Ven, but she wasn’t going to turn into a selfish creature that didn’t see the basic needs of those around her.

…Even if her soul did feel black inside for once. _Black in exchange for the gray now, how reassuring._

Rai was the first to respond, by patting the space beside him.

And he did it so hard, Fujin almost thought that he would break the tile that he touched. But she said nothing.

_Oh, Rai. Gotta love him._

“I thought you might like some freeze dried apples,” Seifer offered, when Fuu took the initiative to sit between the two members of her little family.

Having been around her Ventus too much lately, she found herself almost raising an eyebrow for it. But she did not.

Instead, she leaned towards Seifer and put both of her hands on his arm. And she hinted at him through this, way that she wanted an answer:

This had been what she’d do as a young child when begging for his food over her yucky variation of sustenance, so she saw no reason this shouldn’t give her what she wanted now.

“The stuff is close to the color of your hair, y’know?” Rai supplied, as if something as simple as that was really good enough to buy it for her.

And since Seifer didn’t say much in response—and instead just continued to munch on the apples silently—Fuu got the sense that he felt the same way.

She huffed… And she may or may not have felt her power stir. But this time she would be in complete control of it. She would make sure.

“Whuut?” Seifer said, looking very much like a chipmunk with how much apple he had stored in his cheeks. “Don’ ac’ like di’cussions ‘bout yer hair didn’ come up wit’ th’ boy.”

That was true… But Fuu had been able to tolerate it with Ven more, because a lot of the time that had just been them trying to figure out why they had the abilities they did.

“Why’s this hurt so?” Fuu demanded at last, finally slumping down where she sat. She found herself in Rai’s arms, pretty much, and he began massaging her hair like an expert masseuse. So Fuu almost purred, as the waterworks started up again.

Wow. And here she’d opted that she wasn’t going to end up like this, but would rather hold on because of her family. A real champ she was, huh?

“…Probably because this is the second time you’ve lost him.”

“What?” Fuu gasped. She found herself thinking about stories again, for some reason. And she thought that if she had been, she would have really had an explosive reaction to Seifer’s words.

But here in real life, she truthfully didn’t.

Instead, she was found herself being very subdued again.

And when Rai looked into her eyes, he seemed to realize that that was the most remarkable response she could have at all.

He motioned for Seifer to fill her in about whatever was going on, and Fuu breathed a sigh of relief for it.

“The truth, Fuu, is that you two were in daycare together. You were the best of buddies even as babies.

“And you had an eye problem, that kept you from opening one up completely. But Ven didn’t care. He almost seemed to pal around you _because_ of it, and would guard that side of you where you couldn’t see as well.

“Anyway… Ven was supposed to be moving. And he did. But it effected you more than I would have ever thought it would. You were completely miserable. And it was then that you developed what you can do.

“I don’t know why, exactly, Fuu. The only thing I can figure is that you accessed the other parts of your brain as your young-self tried to deal with the crippling loss.

“It was then that I had to keep you here. I didn’t know how else to try and protect you, and to keep your talents in check. We’d _just_ lost our own parents, Fuu—you, Rai, and I, I mean—and I was only a kid.

“Anyway, Ventus came back. At first I didn’t notice it, but _you_ did. You must be drawn to him, or some shit.

“And when I learned of it, I wasn’t going to let you interact with him anymore. I thought it might do more harm than good. But then I began to think that maybe he’s the key to fixing you… And I gave in.

“Before you ask… I think he developed his own affliction when _he_ left _you_ , and for the same reason.

“But as for how Rai and I notice him even with it, I guess it’s because we know so much about ‘im.”

There was a part of Fuu that wanted to crack up at this news.

The idea that she had, apparently, met her soulmate as an infant and it had led to all of this back then… was laughable.

But Seifer seemed deadly serious. And Fuu supposed it all _did_ make sense, in some completely ludicrous way.

“I gotta go to him, then,” Fuu decided, her arms crossed over her chest in a standoff sort of way.

Because if everything Seifer was saying was true—and Fuu was certain it was—then the two of them needed to be with each other in some sort of capacity, no matter what.

And she was going to make sure that happened.

With Ven, after all, Fuu didn’t so strongly feel the storm within her.

So without another a word, Fuu exited the room. And she knew exactly where she was going.

And maybe, just maybe, Seifer and Rai had been smiling after her as she left.

Though she could hardly be sure of such a thing, of course.

…

At the park that both Ven and she had been at that one time, Fujin found her would-be-boyfriend kicking stones.

And the kind of smile he regarded her with amazed her.

She’d thought he’d decided to leave her behind for Terra and Aqua.

“Ven-”

But before Fuu could finish voicing her thought, she found herself pulled into the boy’s arms again.

And it was far from being an unpleasant thing. She buried her face into his chest and inhaled the scent of his cologne.

It had always been odd to Fuu that he wore lime, as most guys probably would’ve thought it was too feminine.

But it was _very_ much Ventus, and Fuu wouldn’t have had it any other way.

And maybe there was even a lost memory here: one they could try and rediscover together. Fuu smiled at the thought.

“I’m sorry for everything, Fuu,” Ventus declared, as he squeezed her back tightly and buried his face in the crook of her neck. “And I mean for _everythin_ ’, like havin’ to leave ya when we were babies. I found out the whole truth, because… Because I guess it was buried in my attic, in things that my mom wrote.

“She killed herself because she couldn’t handle the truth about me, I guess… And Terra and Aqua found this out, in breaking into my old house and reading up on it. I’m-

“I’m done with them, Fuu. I think maybe they cared about me in some way… But more than anything, they were here for the spectacle. Not me. And that’s the opposite of you. I love ya, Fuu, I do.”

His forehead was leaning against hers now: And Fuu couldn’t help feeling that this was probably the least romantic love confession she ever could have heard.

And there was dead, orange leaves flying around them—almost seeming to hint that things weren’t perfect between them.

They still had so much to figure out, after all, like how whatever connection they had could touch them so much even as _infants_.

But at the same time… Fuu didn’t mind.

And with the idea that maybe things weren’t perfect now—but probably could be for them in the near future—Fuu finally made the choice to be happy, and to be with Ven whatever it took.

“With how much you make me laugh, you must,” Fuu admitted. _Yes, I could only ever have this much mirth around someone who loves me, and clearly deserves it._ “And as it stands, I’m tired of waiting.”

And Fuu’s lips truly came to Ven’s own this time.

And out of the corner of her eye, she saw the raindrops around him, which Terra and Aqua must have seen him as… but they completely disappeared.

As pleasantness settled in Fuu’s heart, and all feelings of unhappiness completely left her, there was an explosion of beams rising up all about them.

Then, right above their heads, fireworks—as it all came together—and a warm orange glow resting just above them.

The sun… it had finally come out, hadn’t it?

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Liz! I hope you like this… I wrote it for you, because I know you ship(ped) them, based on the drawing that you did.
> 
> I was actually writing this for you when things were hard for you for a time, but I sadly didn’t get it done in time for that recent area in your life. So I hope it’s okay that it’s now for your birthday instead.
> 
> This is also the story/ship that I said I was writing when we met in NYC (when I mentioned that I was writing a story for a couple I never had before ^_^).
> 
> And the reason my icon’s been Fuu on Tumblr lately, has been as a hint to this little fic;)
> 
> And oh my gosh, was Fuu’s speaking tic a hard thing to try and do, but I hopefully managed it at least a teeny-tiny bit decently.
> 
> On a side note, I really wanted to name this fic “The Boy Saw the Comet, and Suddenly His Life Had Meaning”, but that would have been too obvious. Haha.
> 
> Drop a review and/or kudo if you were a fan, everyone! Thank you so very much for reading! 
> 
> Love you, Liz!
> 
> -GLOMPS-
> 
> -Shanna


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